Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) for pharmacy students during experiential education: A comparative...

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Competency-Based Training
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are increasingly used in competency-based education.
• This study investigates pharmacy student and educator perceptions of EPAs versus traditional assessments in a co-op and clinical rotation model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare pharmacy student, supervisor, and preceptor perceptions of EPAs against existing assessment tools.
• To evaluate the strengths and limitations of EPAs in experiential pharmacy education.

Main Methods:

• PharmD students and their experiential supervisors/preceptors used EPA tools alongside current evaluations.
• Surveys gathered qualitative and quantitative data on EPA perceptions.
• Content analysis identified themes related to performance evaluation and practice readiness.

Main Results:

• Students valued EPAs for real-world relevance and autonomy but questioned grading clarity and applicability in co-op settings.
• Supervisors/preceptors found EPAs practical for assessing independence but noted training needs and rating consistency issues.
• A hybrid model combining EPAs with existing tools was favored to balance clinical tasks and broader competencies.

Conclusions:

• EPAs effectively assess student autonomy and readiness for unsupervised practice, particularly in clinical rotations.
• Challenges with co-op alignment and evaluator variability suggest EPAs may not be suitable for standalone use.
• A combined assessment approach offers a more comprehensive evaluation of student performance in experiential training.